Tommy Moffitt Details How Respect for Mike Elko Brought Him to Texas A&M Football

Tommy Moffitt Speaks About His Respect for Elko, How He Wanted to Be Part of Elko’s Texas A&M Football Staff

Possibly the most important hire a coach makes at a new stop is that of the strength and conditioning coach, and Mike Elko has brought a legend onto his first Texas A&M football staff: Tommy Moffitt. A longtime coach at LSU, Moffitt is maybe the most respected coach in the industry, and well-beloved by the fans and players in Baton Rouge.

Nonetheless, Brian Kelly, wishing to remake the program in his own image upon arriving, dismissed him two years ago. This, like the dismissal of DB coach Corey Raymond (a move which Kelly has now apparently seen the folly of, given that he has hired him back), was widely panned by fans of the Bayou Bengals.

The loss for the Purple and Gold was the gain for the Maroon and White, however. There was some initial thought that Elko would bring over his strength and conditioning coach from Duke, David Feeley. Despite those preliminary reports, Feeley chose to stay put, and it wasn’t long until Elko had hired Moffitt.

In an interview conducted today on Texags Radio, Moffitt revealed that it was actually himself who reached out to Elko, rather than the other way around. He spoke about the fact that a former employee of his had made the move to Duke, and it was that employee’s glowing comments about Elko—his organization, his mentality, etc—that intrigued Moffitt about the then-Blue Devil head man.

From that point going forward, according to Moffitt, he was a fan of Duke, and, more specifically, Elko. Therefore, when it became clear that the job was open, he began trying to get into contact with Elko to get the job.

This just speaks to the fact that Texas A&M football got it right in the end with their head coaching choice. This is a man whose coaching acumen is so well-respected that he has a legend like Moffitt reaching out asking to come work with him. Moffitt has apparently turned down many offers in the time since he left Baton Rouge from some of the premier programs in the nation, but he wanted to reach out to Elko and A&M to come work in College Station. That says a whole lot.

There’s a lot more to the interview, and I’d recommend that everyone reading go watch it. I’ve linked it above—it’s 15 minutes, and well worth your time.